Yay another FO!

Hey Robin!

I feel bad to do this again but i knew you would want to see this puppy all-done! Now all I have to do is fit it on Li'l Gal's waist to make sure... and perhaps add some light elastic so it stays. It's so cute now I want one! But I sure don't want to knit it! PHEW! That's a lot of weaving in of ends :p

What do you think of the green ribbon? I think it's "too too" :)

*sigh* Now you won't hear from me for a while because i must slog....

Later!

TA DA!

Hey Robin,

OK... the much-promised desk photos! Yay! I got the edge banding all done so it looks way better than if I had taken a photo immediately upon installation. I think the before-after pictures say it all:

ack! The clutter! The clutter! (notice ball band dish cloth mats on the desk there...)

and after:

aaaaaaah.... (notice almost-finished Hey Mickey on the desk... heh.)

I realize it looks like mission control there with the LCD tv on the wall. We are nerds. Hear us roar.... You notice the Skull plushie on the shelf? The Gamlin anime cel on the wall? If you could move forward and look to the left you would also see the huge Star Wars movie poster... aaaah. Life is good.

I hope you are having a lovely Memorial Day!

Kate

FO FO... it's off to slog I go!

Hey Robin...

Hey... 'nother dish rag done. W00t W00t! This one is the ball-band from Mason Dixon and i had to make it because i was really feeling left out! Also it helps to deplete my bulging stash... not a lot... but some. That counts right? Right?!

(way too close-up pic of dish cloth... so i made it eensy...)

Now I have gone and purchased the needed second ball of Wool-ease so i can finish slogging through Hey Mickey. I'll be so glad to get it done mostly because I want to see little Miss in it! I hope i can find just the right color of lime green gros grain ribbon to tie it all together... and can i SAY that I have NO interest in sewing in those ends?? Whose bright idea was it to do the two-tone skirt?! Oh... right... that would be me. *sigh* Anyway i have about 16" done and her waist is 20"... so I guess i have a few more rows to go. Less than half tho'! Yay!

(can we call it a fringed skirt?? No?)

Lastly, you have convinced me to do the Hub's sweater before I start anything else major... Maybe I can get it done before his birthday! Though Iwill still have to have something small to lug around... this summer is going to be HOT Ican tell and I won't want to be resting a big pile-o-cotton on my lap all summer! Ick! I feel another pair of socks coming on... yeah... socks... red ones...

(the slog-fest to come... lookit that pile-o-cotton!... Lego inserted for scale)

Congrats on another stellar post on WoW Insider! :)

New FO!

Hey Robin,

Yay done with da hat! The SWS is nice (barring the infuriating knottiness) and the other yarn i used for the crown, one of Jo Ann's Sensations yarns (apparently SO popular they don't even carry it anymore) which is more like a stranded roving than a yarn really... came out to be a pretty cute hat! Even the Hub thought so.

So now that nice-short-project is done i am moving on to another nice-short project while I wonder if I should make the Hubs sweater-surprise next or the BOF's wrap.... hmmm...

What do you think?

WoWKnitting

Hey Kate!

So I gotta play WoW these days. No really! I gotta! And I don't watch too much TV anyway (though that will change soon), so mostly I knit during breaks at work and during WoW play sessions. I know you haven't played WoW, but you are an MMO veteran so you understand that there is always downtime.

WoW does a really good job, however, of minimizing the downtime. I know your hubby was the EQ addict, but if you ask him, I'm sure he'll tell you what a timesuck that was. For every hour of fun there was at least that long of downtime or brutal travel time. The wait for boats was 10 to 15 minutes and the boat trips took something like half an hour. When soloing, downtime between kills was 15 minutes. When I think of all the knitting I could have gotten done... I don't know what I did during that time. Probably drank a lot.

The boat in WoW is about a 5 minute wait time and no more than a 5 minute ride. (And on the horde side, it isn't a boat, it's a Zeppelin!) The downtime between solo battles, when necessary, is about 15 seconds. So while knitting can be done during those times, it isn't much. There are the "birds" which are hippogriffs and bats and stuff which can be long, safe, unattended rides. Now that allows for some decent knitting time. But otherwise, I have to get creative.

Say I have to cross a "zone" (like Galaxies, you don't have to zone to get places, but they still are called zones) to get to my next quest, (unlike EverQuest and Galaxies, there are actual working quests and plenty of them) I will go on autorun and start to knit. This can be a bit dangerous because the path is rarely a straight line, but with a little bit of guiding with the mouse and one eye on the screen, I can usually get from point A to point B while knitting without any casualties.

And of course, I get lots of knitting in when waiting around for my husband. But that's another story.

Off to WoWknit,

Robin

P.S. The pic is from the Penny Arcade guys, but you already knew that.

Obsession

Hey Kate,

My drooling and my "window" (read internet lookiloo) shopping is out of hand lately. I want. I want. I want. Our yarn talk is wonderful, but it just isn't enough. I need more. Regular visitations to Elann for this and Knitpicks for that are also not enough. The virtual stroking of the fibers at Blue Moon and Fearless Fibers and dreaming about the lovely patterns at Dreamweaver are truly wonderful, but I'm still not satisfied.

Nothing compares to the unadulterated yarn porn available at Sundara Yarns. Actually it's more than just yarn, her pictures of flowers and OMIGOD are so droolworthy. But it's mostly the yarn and I must have some.

Wow, this looks like a paid promo for these places. I wish. Uh, if any of these places wants to um give us free yarn, please do. We would happily talk about you more. Um, not that we don't already. And, of course, nobody really reads us (yet?)... Ok, forget it. Moving on...

You and I are both bummed that we missed out on The Petals Collection that Nona blogged about. (Nona, we miss you!) And we MUST get in on the next sock club Sundara Yarns has. But in the meantime, I must have some of her other yarn. The only problem is... how to choose! Well, that's not the only problem. She's also out of everything in the Currently Available section. That's one oddly named section.

But really, until I finish my current sock, I have no business buying more sock yarn. No business at all.

Did i mention i like Irises?

Hey Robin!
I couldn't leave the post-day on a sour note, so i went out and watered the garden and took lots o pictures of the happee faces! Lookey and see...

See? Happee faces!

Sendin' out an SOS!

...for SWS. This stuff is purdy but it's Pi**ing me off! TWO knots I have found which messed up the order of the colors so my piece is coming out almost ONE color instead of the multitude that it's supposed to... ok i exaggerate a LITTLE but still!
Lookit!

Ohhhh give me tiiiiiiiiiime*

Hey Kate!

There are many times I wish I had that time-thingy Hermione had. But I don't. So I end up getting nothing done but work and sleep, and not much of that. Yesterday, however, I was able to fit in a little mommy time and that of course means feeding my yarn addiction.

And during work I was able to work on my purse a bit:


And I had a breakthrough on my sock! Ok, I know it doesn't look like much, but I don't think I'll be frogging it again. I had been casting on two kneedles because I cast on so tightly and she said to cast on very loosely in that tutorial. And the stitches just fall right off my shiny, new kneedles. So last night I cast on using just one kneedle and tried really hard to just be loose and now I am actually on row 2!











And of course I had to play with my new yarn. So I started to swatch on #9 kneedles.


And I have to say that my love affair with the Boye Interchangeable kneedle set is now officially over. The #1, 2 and 3 kneedles are all smaller than the join, which is just criminal. How do you sell those three sizes in your kit if they can't be used? And the small length of cord that I'm using above is so stiff that it is hard to get the kneedles together. Grawr!

And the look on Emme's face tells you what she thinks of the case.

The yarn is so lovely though. I hope one ball is enough to make a hat.

Later,

Robin

P.S. *This movie is a bit of fun to stitch and weep to.

Happy Mommy's Day!

Hey Robin,
My BFF sent me this funny that I think all Mommy's should read and think about... ponder even. Enjoy :)

So, we had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.

Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves Chapstick. LOVES IT. He kept asking to use my Chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my Chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and try to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys are fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little one at the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.

We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the car and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying my Chapstick very carefully to Jack's . . . rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said "chapped." Now if you have a cat, you know that he is right--their little butts do look pretty chapped.
And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind.

And the only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the hundredth..

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your Chapstick on the cat's butt.

Lookey Lookey!

Hey Robin!

YAY!!! No comments about how badly the stripes don't line up... I don't care... I'm not taking these off all day!

*sigh* OK, hub has pointed out something...

AFTER my shower... I'm not taking these off all DAY! They feel so neato. Must make more. After a couple other projects... suddenly i feel the need to make something on LARGE needles. Can't imagine why!

In other news, the Little Guy hollered from the other room "There's a rocket on the ceiling!" Now, being a boy who is prone to hollering such things on a regular basis we took barely any notice... until:

"Holy?! There IS a rocket in the ceiling!!"

And since it's spring and I can't NOT have a garden pic in here:

Ain't he cute? My Dad gave me this YEARS ago and he's gone with me everywhere I have moved. I think this is the best planting he's had in years, what i really wanted was that succulent that looks a little bit like seaweed, but i haven't been able to find that here....

Have a great day!

Kate

Box o' Stash

Hey Kate!
I got some stash! I got some stash!


The colors in the online pics weren't as true as they are for Elann.com, but they are still nice. In fact, most of the yarn looks better than the online pictures, which is great. The gorgeous hanks are going to be my second pair of socks. The funky multicolored yarn is currently my WIP. A sock! A sock! And the other two yarns were going to be a purse, but the green isn't a light enough sage, so they will have to just enrich my stash for now. Yay, stash replenishment!

So last night, I settled into a corner in the break room with my sock yarn and a print-out of a lovely sock tutorial (thanks Kate). My coworker (and I hope friend) from Pakistan, we'll call her Sara, came running over and started asking me a ton of questions. What was I doing, what was I making, how do I do it, why all the kneedles, do I also just use two, etc. It was awesome. She made me promise to bring some stuff to work so that she can learn to knit, too. It's a bit daunting because I'm still just a beginner, but it will be fun to try.

Later,

Robin

A planting I will go...

Hey Robin,

This weekend was the UW Master Gardener's Plant Sale. W00t! I love me the plant sales. Good plants, good prices, loads of advice for novices like myself. I think you know, but I will re-explain, that when we bought this house a couple years ago the yard was HUGE (by suburban standards) and a little neglected. So i have been happily learning to weed/plant/feed/prune and try-not-to-kill all KINDS of cool things. I have discovered that i LOVE Irises. I think everyone has a favorite plant... i heart Irises. And fortunately they grow well here. I stole a few rhizomes of a beautiful bronze bearded one from the house we rented previously. It seems quite happy in it's new home. Seriously. I took, like, TWO rhizomes and in a couple years i had to split it up into SEVEN! The original two are still in the first place I put them... the other five siblings are in a new spot... we're waiting to see if they are happy there. Here's a pic of the beauty from last year

Anyway back to my intended subject: the plant sale. There's something about being around so many gardeners... of all makes and models. Gardening, like knitting, is made up of some of the happiest, most serene and welcoming people you could ever find. I feel privileged to be among them most times. Things like plant sales are really good for one's blood pressure! There's no stress, no rush, no pressure. It's awesome. Almost as good as a spa visit (i said ALMOST). I think it's really no mystery that so many knitters are also gardeners. I think the two habits go hand in hand. Don't you? Well, it's just a theory anyway...

Here's the haul:

The CD is from a guy who was just happily sitting amongst the plants... playing his beautiful music. It was heavenly... i had to buy one of his CDs. Seriously, if you like classical guitar, I must recommend him. He was also a rather nice chap!

I got to buy some carniverous plants for "the hub" he was pleased :) I think that was as happy as I have ever seen him get about a plant. Excepting perhaps the yummy heirloom tomatoes...

Anyhoo... got to take the lad to the library before the book police come take my Mommy-card away from me ;)

Hope your day is going well!

Kate

Randomness

Hey Kate,

Good advice about the socks. I will keep that in mind for when I get my sock mats, which is hopefully soon.

So I'm supposed to be at work, but I seem to have picked up some evil stomach flu or something. I was up at 3am doing things that no one wants to do at 3pm, let alone 3am. Gonna crawl back to bed soon, but I got bit by the blog bug.

We finally got to watch the most recent Heroes episode last night. It was not only one of the best episodes of any television show I have ever seen, it was so intense that I totally horked my hemp bookmark. Ah well, it was worth it.

Now, I don't like cozies and I don't think you do either, but I found this on Whip Up and I have to say that it's a lovely idea. It's like reusable and useful gift wrapping.

Here is a direct link to Crazy Aunt Purl's hat. I definitely want to make one. The SWS yarn is calling to me.

I think the Yarn Harlot should frog the back and redo it. What do you think?

Ok, I'm all woozy now.

Later,

Robin

P.S. Love the colors n font n stuff! I put in an Amazon search box. Let me know what you think. :)

Sock news

Hey Robin...
The Harlot was right... as soon as you finish sock #1 you BETTER cast on sock #2 or you are never going to do it.... and you will have an orphan on your hands. Oh dear lord i want to finish this sock and do something else! This is why the wise-woman said: "cast ye on the 56 stitches or get ye one less foot".

...or something like that. That's in the bible right? Wait...

Bye Bye UFO. Hello FO!

Hey Kate!

I hope this post isn't too exuberant. I just found out that I got the WoW Insider columnist position and I'm slightly pleased about that. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!! Ok, calming down now.

Back to yarn talk, I needed a small purse for work at that large retailer that employs me. They provide lockers which are pretty small and there is barely enough room for my KIP bag, lunch, Harry Potter book and my purse. Plus, I prefer just bringing the bare necessities with me. So I went back to my first attempt at stitching with recycled sari silk yarn which has been sitting in my craft trunk for what seems like a year:

The pattern for this is the Mini Purse pattern from the 2006 Crochet Pattern a Day calendar. I didn't adjust the gauge on purpose to get a slightly bigger purse. The two major problems with this project, as you can see, are that 1) I made it totally lopsided and 2) the yarn had a bunch of knots in it that I stubbornly stitched through, seeing as there were so many. But it is the perfect size for the purse I need and I think the colors are just gorgeous and it is certainly different from anything else anywhere (which is probably a good thing).

So, I started to weave in the ends. And my plastic yarn needle broke right on the loop. Sigh. But since I already had knots, I just knotted the rest of the ends to make the look um more consistent, yeah. The flap is ridiculously sloped and there's a big loop on it that looks less like a knot and more like a huge crocheting error. (By the way, I attempted to frog this thing ages ago to no avail. It's stuck this way.) So I turned it into a button loop and crocheted a big button on that side to make the flap look purposely sloped. You know, like I designed it that way. So now I have this:


It's not great. It is probably not even good. But I like it and it does the job. It also sheds but that's beside the point. My cats shed too and I don't love them any less.

I have to go. I have some WoWKnitting to do before bed. Did I mention I get paid to play WoW and write about it now? Woooooooooootttttttttt!

Later,

Robin

P.S. You post Fabulous FOs, Wonderful WIPs and pictorial essays on Fiber Forays while I post sad projects like the above. I detect a trend. Sigh. Oh well, I have no where to go but up!

Nekkid-izing the Sheeps

Hey Robin,

As promised I am posting my collection of pictures from the "Wild n Woolly" Sheep Shearing event this weekend at Kelsey Creek Farm in Bellevue, where I live. I have been meaning to get to this thing ever since I found out about it and this is the first time I got to go! Yay! It was fun-ness all around and I only dragged my Dad this time. Next year I'm draggin' the Hub and the Kid because I think they will love it too. (What's not to love about tractor-rides and kettle corn?!). Here's some pictures to show the fun-ness:

Ironically the first thing we saw at the Sheep shearing event was a couple-o-dese critters. They were friendlier than they had to be... a bit friendlier than their handlers I should say, but those gals were looking a little strained. Was it that they were outnumbered? Hmm...

...nearby was the Sheep dog demo, i love these

dogs, they are so amazing. Here's one driving the

poor sheep through a "gate". Does the "gate" look a little tense to you? Hmm....

While we wandered around gazing at the many neato-booths (all the while I was wondering where the HECK the so-called fiber demonstrations were!) there were some critters getting a trim...

...this one's name is Sunshine... I think. She's a Mommy like me (meaning she has lots of hair and isn't really interested in getting it cut off at the moment). Lots of kidlings were watching this event with some tredpidation. It's amazing how many asked whether she was being hurt. A few even asked where were her babies and didn't they miss her? Kids ask great questions don't they?

These guys were pretty passive in their "waiting-room".

What no magazines?

Is anyone else thinking of The Aristocats when they see this picture? Or is it Mary Poppins... darn i forget.

Found the Fber demos! This room was filled with women working magic... dyeing, spinning, combing, carding... it was amazing... yet not a one of them was actually in the process of knitting or weaving or felting! That kinda suprised me, but i must say I don't blame them for doing all that spinning. Every one of them had some really beautiful colors of roving to play with and if I knew how to spin (the prospect is becoming ever so much more attractive) that's what I would have been doing too!

These ladies were so great, they talked to me until they were dry in the mouth about all the things they were doing. Just amazing.

This is just the prettiest thing i have ever seen (should i point out that my woodworking brain-functions started kicking in right about now? It was quite a struggle let me tell you).

This woman was so cute. You can see how excited she is about her subject. She was combing wool and showed me this gorgeous fleece she was "rescuing so that her daughter (who insisted it was hers) could spin it". It was the most beautiful brown color... natural brown too! She was amazingly abl to hold three conversations at one time... Thank you ladies!

I think I am going to take your advice and start brushing up on my Dreamweaver skills for these blog posts. This editor is driving me batty!

Later,

Kate

P.S. Dad wanted me to mention that he was thoroughly enthusiastic about accompanying me on this trip... it's true he was! Didn't mean to make it seem like he wasn't... I should also mention that every one of these pictures was taken by him :)